


"What were you thinking?" or 'Storybrook: Inside Out'

by Of_Princes_and_Savages



Category: Inside Out (2015), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: "Inside Out" Emotions in people's heads, Gen, Humor, I'll do any scene and pairing!, Prompt me!, Seriously prompt me!, The Charming Family, but I'm anti-Zelena, one-shot(s?)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-05-18 05:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5900068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/pseuds/Of_Princes_and_Savages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What goes on inside a OUAT character's head during any of their most memorable moments?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. S2: Emma and Henry walk in on Snowing

**Author's Note:**

> I [finally] got around to watching 'Inside Out' last week. I was expecting a Pixar movie about emotions to be deep but that put the feels in feelings, even though I wanted to punch Sadness in the face at first. (STOP TOUCHING EVERYTHING! STOP IT!)  
> But then yesterday I thought of this little piece of nonsense. I figured the best example would be arguably the funniest part of Season 2 (you know the one,) to test out my theory...

The control room in Emma Swan's mind was a utilitarian room, neat and practical without frivolity. Her Emotions were females with mid-length blonde waves, wearing red leather jackets and jeans. The yellow-skinned Joy was currently bouncing on the balls of her feet in a rare moment of uncurtailed happiness caused by something as simple as a trip to the grocery store with Emma's estranged son Henry.

"Oh my gosh! This is so cool! Are you guys excited? I'm excited! This is exciting! Isn't this exciting?"

Disgust flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Ugh, it's just groceries. This town doesn't even sell taco kits, what's up with that?"

"Do you think it was a good idea to invite Regina to the party?" Fear twiddled her purple fingers nervously, edging towards the console. "M-maybe we warn somebody, or cancel. Maybe we should cancel, I mean, she didn't kill us when she could have but I bet she still wants to. R-right?"

Joy swatted her away without tearing her eyes from the screen. "Ah don't worry about it! I mean what's the worst she'll do with Henry there? She's all out of magic apples."

"Henry could have died," Sadness sniffed, lying on the floor in a depressed puddle behind them. "That's awful..."

"I say we wait until Her Majesty screws up again!" Anger pounded her fist into her hand with a fierce scowl. "You know she will, she's the Evil Queen for God's sake!"

"What sort of Queen wears a pantsuit?" Disgust sniffed.

* * *

"Careful up the stairs, careful!" Henry's Fear, wearing a blue-and-red scarf under his jacket, wrung his hands anxiously. "J-Joy, maybe you oughta slow it down a bit. What if we get a concussion? What if we miss the party?!"

Joy flicked his slightly too-long brown hair out of his wide eyes, grinning like a loon. "Wasn't it cool guys! I mean, yeah, it was just grocery shopping, but wasn't it fun anyway? Maybe Emma will let us do this again sometime! Hey, do you think Grandma and Grandpa will help make tacos? I don't think we've ever been in a kitchen with four people in it. _Family is the best_!"

Henry Mill's headspace was a bright and airy place, lit by a huge window at the back for viewing the rest of his mindscape. There were big, soft, leather sofas and high-backed "Alice in Wonderland" chairs, where Disgust and Anger sat respectively, taking a back seat on this largely positive day.

Sadness hovered off to the side of Fear, shoulders hunched and sighing. "I miss Mom. I mean, maybe she isn't as evil as we thought she was...she seems kinda sad..."

"Yeah? Well maybe you should've thought of that before ditching her!" Disgust snipped, lounging in one of the chairs, flipping through a newspaper with a front page reading: **POTLUCK PARTY AT GRANNY'S! CELEBRATING THE RETURN OF SNOW WHITE AND THE SAVIOR!**

"Oh she'll be happy to get some time to herself, sort things out," Joy waved Disgust off. "Meanwhile, let's enjoy the now, huh? Time is moving, the Curse is broken, Emma and Grandma are back. It's all good!"

Emma had opened the door then, and both she and Henry walked through. Joy paused at the controls as the Emotions took in the scene-Grandma Snow and Grandpa David, still in bed with the covers up to their chins,-before them.

"What...what are they still doing in bed?" Disgust got up, marching over. "It's the middle of the day!"

"M-maybe they're sick. What diseases do they have in the Enchanted Forest?" Fear chewed on his fingernails. "Does Emma look pale to you guys? I thought she looked pale..."

* * *

Snow White's control room was a pale, pastel colored space, with plush white velvet curtains framing the window to her mindscape. Her Emotions had pixie-cuts in their appropriate colors and wore white cardigans over lavender blouses, looking every bit as sweet and demure as their girl.

That did not match with how Fear was running in circles around the control panel shrieking, _" **OHHHHHHHMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYGOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!** "_

Anger stomped her foot, quite put out that their daughter walked in _right now_ and Disgust and Sadness had slumped together on the floor in a dejected heap while Joy ran up to the control panel at the same time as Fear, and together they frantically formulated a reply.

* * *

The Emotions in David's head-a wood-paneled room looking a bit like a cabin, or a room in a farmhouse,-wore button-downs and jeans. Anger was face-palmed while Sadness burst into tears, and Disgust face-palmed as well at his grandson's innocent question.

"Whadda we do? Whadda we do? Whadda we do?" Fear flapped his hands agitatedly, looking like he was about to burst through one of the wood-paneled walls like a cartoon character to escape.

 **"I..."** Snow faltered, **"...am very tired, aaannnd needed more...sleep."**

"Yes! Love this woman!" Joy pounced on the controls. "Always knows what to say!"

**"And I'm...helping her sleep."**

"Yeah," Disgust peeked through his fingers. "Nice recovery."

* * *

Emma's Emotions barely noticed Henry skipping off to the kitchen area (thankfully out of sight of the kitchen).

Red lights were flashing in the control room and it was very much an every-woman-for-herself scenario, five brightly-colored emotions running around waving their arms above theirs heads screaming, _"Nooooooo!"_

Fear tripped and smacked face-first into the console, spurring Emma into action on her own. Disgust skidded to a stop and scowled at the screen, waving her hands at it like this was the source of all the world's problems.

"Oh my god! Guys! Emma is 28 years old and just walked in on her parents. When did our life come to this?"

"Haven't they ever heard of calling ahead?" Anger punched the console. "A text, a tie on the door, maybe lock it?! ARGH!"

"Ack! They're still talking!" Fear jumped up from were she was lying on the floor and started flailing over the console. "Disengage! Disengage! Make tacos! Run Emma, run!"

* * *

"We're the worst parents _ev-eeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"_ Snow White's Sadness wailed, clinging to Fear as they crumpled to the floor in a sobbing heap of pathetic anguish.

"Twenty-eight years!" Anger stormed, pacing back and forth to the side. " _Twenty-eight years_! I don't care if she's our long-lost baby or not, it's _our_ apartment!"

"A text? Hasn't she ever heard of knocking?" Disgust huffed, folding her arms. "And parents are people too!"

 

"Oh god, we've scarred Henry for life now!" Fear wept. "We're the worst grandparents ever too!" Sadness bawled at that, and they were both a sobbing mess all over again.

* * *

Things had mostly settled in David's head. Joy had done some serious pacing sudden sprung on the controls. "Okay! Okay! So we didn't get laid, but it's not the worst case scenario! Fear, what was it again?"

"Ahh..." Fear scrambled for a stack of notes. "Mm...ah! Evil sorcerer/sorceress, Regina or otherwise, bursting through wall with a fireball and demanding revenge. Barely ahead of Leroy-slash-Grumpy pounding on the door screaming 'terrible news' again."

"See? Not the worst thing that could've happened! We can always try again later, we've got the time now! I mean what else could possible go wrong in this town by the law of averages?"

"Uh, Joy?" Disgust folded his arms, cocking an eyebrow at the most positive emotion. "Shouldn't we say something to Snow? Because right now, she looks like she's either gonna cry, or faint."

"What? Oh. Uh...ooh! Okay, okay, how about this?"

**"You know, it's kind of amazing we can still give her scarring childhood memories at this stage of the game."**

* * *

Joy giggled and joined the calming Snow Emotions (Snowmotions, if you will,) in a dreamy sigh. "Aww! He's so cute!"

"I said hitting him with that rock was the right choice!" Anger declared. "It didn't even leave a scar, well, it faded, at least. But it's a reminder!"

"He makes me so happy," Sadness sniffled around a watery smile.

Back on top of the situation, Joy twirled around and clapped her hands, hitting a button on the controls. "Okay ladies! Let's get Snow White dressed and ready to meet what's left of the day! We've got an outfit to assemble, Disgust?"

"When I'm done, Snow will look every bit the fairest of them all," she flicked her dark green bangs out of her eyes.

"Excellent! Anger, assemble a list of possible ways to continue this after the party. Fear, make up a list of everything that could interrupt or go wrong with those things. And Sadness, umm, keep an eye out for possible threats in the now, okay? Okay! I've got a good feeling about tonight ladies! After everything that's happened, there's absolutely nothing we can't handle!"

Fear raised her hand. "Um, Joy? What about Regina showing up at the party? Should I plan a strategy for that, just in case?"

"Pffffft, haha!" Joy laughed, waving her hands as Snow and Charming climbed out of bed. "Like _that_ would ever happen!"


	2. S3: Captain Swan Finale Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the one, before "Marian" iceberg'd the SS OutlawQueen? Yup. This was a request by Rainpelt_the_Jedi, so Happy Unbirthday to you!

After a day of time travel and subsequently fixing the holes left from their time travel, the Emotions at the control panel in Captain Killian "Hook" Jones' head were ready to clock out.

Each one was dressed in black and leather with an appropriate amount of eyeliner, standing inside the headspace of a room that looked like the captain's quarters of the Jolly Rodger with a large porthole looking out over the rest of his mind.

All five Emotions were also regularly taking nips from a flask of rum.

Suddenly, Joy nearly spit his last sip across the room and jumped up and down, pointing at the screen. Until now, everything outside had been the outside dining area of Granny's Dinner, dark in the late evening but lit by the electric lanterns lining the streets and a string of bulbs that glowed like fairies overhead. But Joy was bouncing up and down on the toes of his feet now, waving at the screen with a huge grin.

"Guys! Guys! Guys! Looklooklooklook! It's Swan, she's here, she's really here!"

Fear leaped forwards and nearly shoved Joy out the way. "Oh my gods, oh my gods, she is! She's here! She's here and she's pretty, oh, oh no, what do we do? What do we do?"

Disgust rolled his eyes, grabbing the back of Fear's jacket and yanking him away from the control panel. "Uh. Play it cool?"

"Oh. Oh! I can do cool, yeah, sure," Fear took in a deep breath. " _Coooool-_ "

 **"...everything went back to the same it was before,"** Swan was saying, giving him a little smile.

Fear squeaked. "Ack! Quick! Quick! Say something cool! I can't be cool, I'm freaking out-"

Disgust batted Fear away from the controls again and Joy grinned, punching buttons on the console to form a reply. "Okay, how about...anybody remember barmaid!Emma? No? Okay, let's use that. Ah, ooh! And something about how she's a good kisser."

"Add something in about going after her," Anger added. "Girls like that."

"Ooh! Good idea, okay-"

"She's a hero, don't forget that part!" Fear added in, hopping back and forth from foot to foot.

Emma smiled at the completed reply they managed, and shrugged her shoulders. **"Well, you know."**

Sadness sighed, wiping at his eyes before his eyeliner could run. "She's _beautiful_..."

The Emotions sighed in agreement...

...

...

"Wait, wait! What did she just say?" Disgust blinked, leaning forwards towards the screen. "Uh...was anybody paying attention to what she was saying just now?"

"No."

"Not me."

"So pretty!"

"I think she might've thanked us for...something," Anger waved his hand towards the screen. "Uh...okay, lemme try something..."

* * *

Emma's utilitarian headspace with the neat window looking over the mindscape was fraught with tension, all five red-jacketed Emotions crowded around the panel, eyes glued to the screen.

 **"It was the right thing to do,"** Hook said after a beat.

"Wow," Joy fanned herself with a hand. "That's so cool."

"I don't think he was listening," Disgust pursed her lips. "Did you see how his eyes glazed over like that?"

"Uh...hmm, yeah, maybe," Joy hummed, tapping her foot. "Well...oh! Let's as him how he got to us in New York, he never told us that!"

The question presented, Hook looked away...

* * *

"What do we say?" Fear fidgeted.

"We could try the truth?" Joy suggested. "I think Swan likes the truth. She has that superpower thing, right?"

"Have we ever told a girl the truth before?" Sadness chimed, pushed aside quickly by Anger.

"Hey, hey!" He punched a fist into his open palm. "We gave up our ship for this girl! That's as good as an engagement ring from a seaman! If she doesn't like that, if that's not good enough for her, then we'll pack up and go down to the Rabbit Hole and drown out her memory like a man!"

A chorus of three Emotions cheered, and Fear sat down in a fetal position.

" _Please be enough please be enough please be enough_..."

**"Well the curse was coming. I dropped my crew and went as fast as I could to out run it..."**

Swan's eyebrows rose up. **"You outran a curse?"**

Joy hit a quick reply, eager to keep the momentum going: **"I'm a helluva a captain."**

Swan chuckled...

* * *

"Omigod, that is _sooo_ cool!" Joy wriggled excitedly like she was forcing herself from dancing around the room.

Hook was saying something about walls and transport between the worlds and magic beans now. Disgust pressed her lips together, "How did he get a magic bean? Is he pulling our leg now?"

"He's a pirate, he probably stole it, duh!" Anger said.

No one bothered to take their eyes off the screen though...

**"Well, when if you have something of value to trade..."**

Fear blinked. "Um...c-could he mean...did he-"

Joy was now vibrating where she stood, making a noise that started out as a low squeal before breaking out into a full-blown shriek when Hook replied: **"Why the Jolly Rodger of course."**

_"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"_

* * *

Hook's head was full of antsy Emotions now, Fear hovering near the controls. "Okay, okay!" he dropped a stack of papers half as tall as he was on the panel. "I've got 46 possible exit strategies at the ready guys! Twenty are for a graceful exit, nineteen are for laughing it off as a display of friendship, four have the possibility for a pity hug of some kind, and there's one each for bursting into tears and bashing our head against the table in hopes that this is a nightmare. We're prepared for any possible outcome of rejection!"

The other four weren't listening. Disgust pointing over Fear's shoulder at the screen. "What's the plan for acceptance?"

Fear turned around to see Emma leaning in for a kiss.

All four Emotions screamed, diving for the console at the same time in a desperate attempt to respond without screwing this up.

_"Respond! Respond! Respond!"_

By some act of universal kindness, they did.

Joy whipped out a party horn that blared noisily as he danced around the room. " _Woooooohooooooooooooooooo!!!_ We did it! _We did iiiiiitttttttt!!_ "

Fear and Disgust squashed Sadness in a bear hug and Anger pulled out a new edition of the newspaper:

**KILLIAN SCORES BIG KISS WITH SWAN: CELEBRATION IN THE CONTROL ROOM!**

* * *

Emma's Sadness wept happily and Anger waved around a flyer that was going out all over Emma's mind: **THE WALLS ARE DOWN! KILLIAN "HOOK" JONES HAS WON EMMA'S HEART!**

Joy spun around in a swirl of golden curls and squealed, "This is the _greatest day ever_! We've got our family and this and nothing will be awful ever again! _YAHOOO_!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a big Captain Swan fan, personally, but this was fun to write. I'm gonna get around to writing the "Miss Swan, this is Milah, my ex wife" scene pretty soon. I think that's my new favorite scene of all time! XD
> 
> If you have a scene in mind, drop a line in the comments and I'll see what I can do! I'll try to avoid excessive character bashing except for Zelena, so, hit me!


	3. S1: The Curtain-Fall in "Skin Deep"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The genius of Ford_Ye_Fiji prompted this 'un here! (I _totally_ forgot about this moment, and it's so perfect!) Happy Unbirthday, dearie!

The mind of Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One, was a peculiar place. The walls were charcoal gray and the floor was black, shiny hardwood. Until usually, his day's Memory was full of Sadness and Anger and Fear. Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and the rarely-active Joy (who usually just sat with his yellow face pressed against the large window, trying to keep a glimpse on their memories of Baelfire,) all had lank sandy-brown hair and wore simple tunics and trousers like their Rumple had as a peasant.

Once, his headspace had been a lighter place. The walls had been a sort of dove gray, and the floor a warm golden-brown, with warm light like that of a candle. Now all was dark, especially thanks to the Dark One's curse, who was bound tightly to Anger. Aside from his red skin, Anger resembled Dark Rumpelstiltskin greatly. His hair was curlier and he wore a leather dragonhide coat, and he was a bully that prevented the other Emotions from doing their jobs properly.

There was only one thing all of them could-Well, two things they could all agree on. One was that _Baelfire was more important than anything_ and the Dark One stood no chance in fighting with them on that.

The other was more of an observation...

"That Belle is a strange girl."

"But...it's...it's a nice sort of strange," Joy, for once, had wormed his way to the console. He had to co-pilot with Fear, though. Which was coming up with some interesting results.

"Stop looking at her! She's gonna notice!" Fear nudged him out the way, keeping Rumpelstiltskin focused on the spinning wheel. "Keep calm!"

"She's not going to bite," Disgust rolled his eyes, sitting on a wooden bench against one wall. "Joy, push him out the way already!"

"Look at her! Look! She's beautiful and young and smart and amazing and we're a mess of bad decisions held together by a curse! A literal curse! She'll turn us down faster than Cora if-"

**"Why do you spin so much?"**

Joy bumped Fear aside: **"I like to watch the wheel, it helps me forget."**

**"Forget what?"**

Even Joy paused, rubbing his hands together. "Uh...is _'my life'_ an appropriate response?"

"Evade! Evade!" Fear pounced on a button.

* * *

 **"I guess it worked!"** Rumpelstiltskin giggled, turning around to look at Belle up high on the ladder.

Belle's headspace was airy, with dark wood furniture cushioned by deep blue velvets, and five brightly colored Emotions wearing little blue-and-white dresses and kitten heels. Joy giggled behind the console at the admittedly awful joke and their master's bizarre laugh while Disgust rolled her eyes.

"He's evading again!"

"Oh, oh!" Fear, who usually had her nose in the paper and forgot to look up at all, tugged on Joy's skirt. "He's coming over here! Look! What do we do?"

"Treat him like a cat!" Anger suggested quickly. "Don't pay him any attention until he asks for it!"

"Ooh, good pla-Hey a newspaper!" Fear picked up the article reading: **PLAYING COY: BELLE ATTEMPTS TO DRAW RUMPLE INTO CONVERSATION** , and was lost to the rest of the team.

* * *

"What is she doing up there?" Disgust scratched the back of his head. "Do we even have a ladder? Where did she get the ladder?"

Anger squinted his red eyes. "What is this? Is she trying to clean the curtains or something?"

"What-Okay," Fear held his hands up. "Let's ask."

"Good idea."

"Yeah, yeah. Then we punish her?"

"No!"

Lately the other thing the other Emotions stood firm on was harming their odd little caretaker. Belle was...interesting, to say the least, and quite a decorative little piece. If they piece could dust a little and serve tea, so much the better.

**"What _are_ you doing?"**

* * *

"Oh look, it worked!" Joy wriggled. "He's asking!"

"He is just like a cat, isn't he?" Disgust rolled her eyes.

Sadness sat twirling a blue curl around her finger. "I think he's just lonely-"

"Why aren't the curtains coming down yet?" Anger scowled, moving to the control panel. "It's like they're nailed shut!"

" **Did you nail them shut?"**

Rumpelstiltskin furrowed his scaly brow for a moment and nodded seriously.

**"Yes."**

Disgust threw up her hands. "Of course he did! What were we thinking?"

"C'mon ladies," Joy bounced on her toes. "A few little nails aren't going to stop us!"

Fear looked up from her paper at just the wrong time, jumping up and darting belatedly for the controls.

"NO WAIT DON'T!" she yelped, even as Belle was toppling off the ladder.

* * *

"No, wait! Don't! No!" Rumpelstiltskin's fear jumped onto the controls and flailed over the buttons, putting their guy in motion. Just in the nick of time, they caught Belle in his arms before she broke her lovely white neck.

Fear wiped his sweaty brow in time with a big sigh as the other Emotions (except Anger, who spared a scowling glance at the curtains he blamed for the fall,) to look at Belle.

Sadness rubbed his eye with the heel of his palm. "She could have died..."

"What was she thinking? That's it!" Disgust sliced his hands through the air. "No more ladders for her! New rule! No ladders, ever! Especially if she's gonna wear heels, no!"

"Guys...guys look," Joy had somehow taken control of the console again, staring awestruck at the screen. "She's looking at us."

On the big screen ahead, they had a lovely close-up view of the lovely close-up woman tucked in their arms. She fit perfectly there, all soft and warm. The sunlight made her pale skin glow like a star and her eyes were bluer than a summer sky, full ruby lips parted in wonder as she gazed up at him-

"She is _light_..."

Joy tilted the screen so they were looking up out the window, at the bright, almost blinding light Belle had brought into the Dark Castle...

* * *

Fear had fainted across the floor and was being tended to by Sadness poking her with a rolled-up newspaper. "Fear? Fear are you okay? Hey, do you need a doctor?"

Joy's attention was solely on the screen. Belle was watching Rumpelstiltskin, and they studied how his odd skin glittered in the light as he looked at the window, almost dazed. Joy smiled.

"He saved us!" she chirped.

"Yeah, well..." Disgust paused. "Okay, I've got nothing. Oh my god he's looking at us! Do we look okay? What's he looking at?"

Suddenly Rumpelstiltskin put her down (but not, they noted, before making sure she had steady footing,) and backed up like she was a hot stove. His hands didn't seem to know where to be and he looked like he was twitch for a mistake.

Not that they were better, smoothing down Belle's skirts as an excuse not to look at the wonderstruck look on his face...

* * *

"We touched her!" Joy almost-grinned. "We touched her and she isn't running away screaming!"

"I think I'm gonna cry," Sadness sniffled.

"What do we do now?"

Joy paused for a moment. He would have liked to say something nice-

**"Ah, no matter."**

Fear had taken over again.

Anger gave Joy a shove. "What's the matter with you?" he sneered. "You want to save Bae? Then focus! Don't get distracted by a pair of nice curves and red lips! If that's what you want of course, then-"

Belle was saying she would put the curtains back up now. In a rare show of defiance against Anger and the Dark One, Joy hit a button.

 **"Ah...no need,"** Rumpelstiltskin waved his hands at the drapes. **"I'll get used to it."**

Anger glared at Joy like he wanted to throw him into the pit that held all the forgotten memories.

Fear slunk behind Joy. "Uh, y'know, it-it's probably best she doesn't climb anymore ladders..."

"She's clumsy, that's what she is," Disgust agreed.

"I don't want her to get hurt," Sadness shifted uncomfortably. "She makes me happy."

The curse-possessed Anger threw up his hands and marched away from the console.

This slip of a maid couldn't possibly be around that much longer anyway. She was no threat to him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still open to prompts, still anti-Zelena, but still open to anybody else.


	4. S1: Rumbelle True Love Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like you people don't know what this is about. Happy Unbirthday AnonymousNerdGirl!
> 
> Angst and feels ahead. Be warned.

Sadness was having a sobbing conniption in one corner while Fear paced back in forth chewing on his nails, and, in one word, conflicted.

"She's gone, but what if she comes back? No, not possible, I mean why would she come back? We set her free, she can do whatever she wants-Oh gods, what if she's attacked by bandits? Or wolves? Or bandit werewolves? Are there bandit werewolves in these parts? Who would help her if there are? We should-No, no we can't go to her, that's crazy talk, she'll want to get as far away from the Dark Castle and us as possible-"

Disgust scowled at them, turning back to the big screen. Rumpelstiltskin was still staring out the window in the direction Belle left. Joy didn't seem as willing to give up as Sadness (and Fear, if he could make up his damned mind,) but Anger was making a strong case for moving on with their life.

"What did you expect? The fair lady would want to stay as your servant for the rest of her life?" he sneered, fluttering his chunky red fingers around. "She's gone Joy! Let's get back to wheeling and dealing our way around the filthy peons of the realm, huh?"

"We should find Bae," Sadness sniffled in contribution, though Anger didn't seem to hear him.

Disgust didn't get to play on the controls very often. Usually Fear and Sadness fought with the cursed Anger, and Joy sat withering away at the back of Rumpelstiltskin's mind. But Disgust was always there, mingling in the midst of everything, quiet but omnipresent in everything...usually criticizing the actions Anger and Fear took with their guy. But today, his green eyes skimmed over the screen and caught sight of something bizarre in the courtyard headed towards their castle...

"God gods above, is that who I think it is?"

Five sets of multi-colored eyes locked onto the small woman in the blue dress and shimmering cape. There was a basket of straw on her arm. And she was headed for the front doors...

" _She's_ back?" Anger sneered.

And was shoved aside by an unusually bright Joy.

"She's _back_!" he cried out, whacking a few commands and suddenly Rumpelstiltskin was dashing down the tower steps to return to his spinning wheel, because they forgot he could teleport.

There was a flurry of commotion over the control panel then. Fear insisted they not appear too eager, but not disinterested, and Disgust added, "Just don't look as pathetic as we are." Sadness wept a little. But mostly, Joy was vibrating on the control panel with the biggest grin on his face and feeling brighter than he had in centuries...

* * *

Fear peeked over the edge of the newspaper at the image of Rumpelstiltskin up on the screen, placidly spinning away at his wheel.

"Did he even notice we were gone?" she whispered to Joy, the paper slipping from her hands as they went to smooth down her skirt and pass over her hair. "Do we look okay?"

There was a round of skirt-smoothing and hair-checking before anyone answered.

"We look good girls, okay, here goes!"

"What if we're not True Love though?"

Anger punched Fear in the arm. "You stop that talk missy! Have we ever cared about a man this way? Has a man ever cared for us this way? Hmmmmm? No? Then shut your pie hole and let the rest of work!"

Fear opened her mouth to say something, but sat down instead, fiddling with a paper. Usually she was too distracted to provide input on Belle's actions, but at times like this, Fear was a bundle of anxiety trembling at the back of her mind.

 **"Oh, you're back already?"** Rumpelstiltskin was saying, crooking a clawed finger at her. **"Good, good. I was...nearly out of straw."**

"Okay, okay, okay," Joy bit her lip. "What do we say?"

"Play it cool," Disgust advised. "Confident. Not sweaty."

* * *

Belle came to the other side of the wheel, giving a little hum through her sweet, smiling red lips. **"Come on,"** she teased, setting the basket of straw down and it was a concentrated effort for Rumpelstiltskin's emotions not to peek down her bodice. (What had they been thinking making the neckline that-Okay, _what_ wasn't so much the question as _why_ did they do it?) **"You're happy I'm back."**

Sadness tugged on Disgust's sleeve. "When did she learn to read minds?"

Disgust shrugged him off, tapping Joy's shoulder, the one Fear wasn't hovering over. "Okay, play it cool. Confident. Not sweaty."

"Sensors indicate we're already doing a lot of sweating." Fear reported, and he and Joy moved for a button at the same time.

 **"I'm not unhappy,"** Rumple said, the statement coming out both nervous and a little pleased all at once.

Belle smiled, perhaps thinking it was amusing, like a puppy doing something cute, and slowly circling around the wheel. Disgust crinkled his nose, glancing at the panel. They were sweating again. Good. What happened to the confident swagger that was so easy around Cora? Eww. No thoughts of Cora in Belle's presence. It was like thinking of garbage at a banquet.

Fear fidgeted anxiously. "Oh gods, oh gods, _oh gods_ , she's getting closer, what do we do!"

 **"And, ah..."** Belle placed her hands on Rumpelstiltskin's shoulders from behind, leaning close to the side of his head.,.

And that was when Fear fainted.

* * *

**"You promised me a story?"**

Disgust noticed the long pause and stillness in Rumpelstiltskin's face. "I think you broke him, Joy."

"Oh no!" Sadness whimpered.

**"Did I?"**

Joy let out a sigh of relief. Not broken. Great! She tapped a button and Belle deftly plucked the thread out of Rumpelstiltskin's hand with a cheery, _"Mm-hmm!"_ as she set it aside. It was the work of moments to situated Belle on the bench, hands in her lap and ankles crossed just so, perfectly ladylike as opposed to the baffled look on Rumpelstiltskin's scaly face.

"Aww," Sadness dabbed at the corner of her eyes. "He looks like a puppy waiting to be picked up! Can we hug him?"

"Maybe later," Joy promised. "We have a story to hear first."

All of Belle's Emotions crowed around the console then, straining their ears to hear what Rumpelstiltskin had to say about his son.

* * *

This would usually be the part where Fear jumped in and changed the subject, but currently Anger was prodding him with the pointy toe of his boot as he lay a twitching, purple-skinned heap on the floor.

Joy swallowed nervously, Sadness and Disgust flanking him at the controls.

"What do we say? _'I let him go like my father abandoned me and have been vainly trying to find him with the meager hope of reconciliation'_?" Disgust scowled, mainly at their own cowardice from three centuries ago.

Sadness scrubbed at his eyes fiercely. "I don't want to."

Joy hesitated a moment, rubbing his fingers together before slowly forming out a reply.

**"I...I lost him. Nothing more to tell really..."**

"Good answer," Disgust nodded, Sadness agreeing with a little sniffle.

Belle gazed at them softly on the screen, all tender blue eyes and undeserved kindness. She tilted her head gently to the side. "And since then, you have loved no one...and no one has loved you."

Sadness whimpered like he was about to burst into tears, biting his lip.

Disgust nudged Joy. "I think Sadness was right, the girl does read minds."

Rumpelstiltskin leaned in a little, but they kept him from automatically kissing Belle. Joy really, really, really wanted to though. The small light that was left of the spinner wanted to burrow into the little maid's arms and kiss her until she made three hundred and fifty years of heartache melt away in the face of her warm glow. But Disgust and Sadness were right, they had to know why such a beautiful girl, who could have a wonderful life far, far away, returned to this gloomy old estate...

**"Why did you come back?"**

* * *

" _Oh my gods_ he's going to _kiss_ us!" Fear shrieked as Rumpelstiltskin leaned closer.

Anger punched her in the arm again, this time accidentally knocking her over.

"Will you calm down!" Anger demanded, before nodding to Joy. "Floor is yours Joy, go on."

Wiping her sticky palms, Joy studied the wistfulness in the Dark One's eyes. He looked...human. Beautifully so. Honesty would probably be the best course of action here, yes.

**"I wasn't going to...but then...something changed my mind."**

Rumpelstiltskin was looking at her again. Something shifted into a fragile, delicate sort of hope and Joy gently nudged Belle forwards until their lips met. A pink glow filled the control room and Joy squealed, launching herself at the closest Emotion for a bear hug.

"We kissed him we kissed him we kissed him AND he's kissing us! _Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee_!"

* * *

A soft pink light filled the dim control room of Rumpelstiltskin's mind and Joy whooped, scooping Sadness up and spinning around the room.

"She kissed us she kissed us she kissed us AND we kissed her back! _WOOOHOOOOO_!!"

Disgust applauded and so did Fear, after a heartbeat. Sure, it was short, chaste little kiss but halle-freaking-lujah it was a kiss all the same! Belle pulled back with an awed, hazy sort of look in her gorgeous blue eyes and that was when everything went wrong.

The heavy gloom that had resided over Rumpelstiltskin's mind since he became the Dark One lifted, revealing the homey wood floor and soft gray walls ever-so-slowly. A golden glow surrounded Anger, his dragonhide coat flickering and his reptilian eyes widening in horror.

"No, no, no, no, NOOO!! She's breaking the curse! Stop her!"

Joy froze. On the one hand, if the curse broke they would be a normal man again. And that meant that...Belle was...

The second of hesitation was all it took for Fear, who had only been conscious for a few moments, to flop over the control panel...

* * *

"He's beautiful!" Joy squealed, taking in the heavy-lidded dark brown eyes and smooth tan skin spreading outwards from Rumpelstiltskin's lips.

"Hmmm...yeah," Disgust agreed after a moment. "I mean the scales were interesting, but I could never tell what color they were. Oh he has brown eyes! Gorgeous brown eyes!"

**"Kiss me again. It's working!"**

**"What is?"** Rumpelstiltskin murmured drowsily, and Joy guided Belle's hands to pet his unruly curls. (Soft as they looked!)

**"Any curse can be broken."**

For one second, everything was happy and bright in Belle's control room.

**"Who told you THAT?!"**

Rumpelstiltskin jumped to his feet, the harsh scales and reptilian eyes glaring back at her. "Uh-oh," Fear squeaked, and Sadness trembled.

There was rush of Emotions on the console, everyone hitting a different button with different intent. Anger wanted to slap him, Sadness wanted to cry, Fear wanted to apologize, Joy wanted to explain, and Disgust wanted to tell him not to get his knickers in a twist. The result was a congest knot of commands that left poor Belle stammering and shaking her head, and whatever came out had Rumpelstiltskin sneering and tearing the cover off that big mirror in the corner of the rumor and shouting nonsense into it.

"What's going on? What happened?" Fear gnawed on her thumbnail.

"What is his problem?" Anger snarled. "Does he want to be cursed or something?!"

Sadness whimpered, clinging to Joy as Rumpelstiltskin whirled around with their answer, waving his hand about theatrically.

**"The _Queen_! Your friend the Queen!"**

Disgust blinked and said what everyone was thinking: "Who?"

* * *

Joy tried valiantly to take back the control panel, but the Dark One had full control, slapping him into the opposite wall and punching viciously at the buttons on the console. Even Fear crawled away as Anger took everything that had somehow built up between them and Belle, that precious budding relationship, and crushed it like he'd crushed the fat slugs that had once been people.

Sadness began to sob as Anger had Rumpelstiltskin shake Belle by her slight shoulders roughly and shout in her face.

_**"BECAUSE NO ONE, NO ONE COULD EVER LOVE ME!"** _

Joy curled up in a ball and began to cry too. The last thing he saw clearly was Belle's hurt, betrayed face before Anger had her pulled down to the dungeons, flung inside on all fours and probably skinning the palms of her soft little hands. Those dear, soft little hands that had touched them so lovingly before.

But Anger was right.

No one could ever love someone who refused to be loved...

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I've never taken prompts before, but if you leave a favorite scene in the comments, I'd be happy to interpret it! I'm not a huge fan of Snowing or Emma, and for that reason Captain Swan, but I promise to be an impartial author since I hate excessive character bashing. Except for Zelena.  
> IF YOU DO PROMPT: I didn't know this show exists so I missed Season 1, and I quit the 4B "Queens of Darkness" melodrama up until the two-hour long Live-Action Fanfic, aka, "Operation Mongoose". So if your scene is from there, give me an episode name and some more detail so I can "research" it on YouTube. Please and thank you, and again, I promise to be an impartial author, and hope I give it justice if that's your thing. Because I'm a f***ing professional.


End file.
